Azaranica is a non-biased news aggregator on Hazaras and Hazarajat...The main aim is to promote understanding and respect for cultural identities by highlighting the realities they are facing on daily basis...Hazaras have been the victim of active persecution and discrimination and one of the reasons among many has been the lack of information, awareness and disinformation...... To further awareness against violence, disinformation and discrimination, we have launched a sister Blog for youths and youths are encouraged to share their stories and opinions; Young Pens

Friday, January 31, 2014

NEW DELHI: Spanish cyclist Federico Javier Colorado Soriano, who narrowly escaped an attack in Mastung, and survived another grenade attack just 12 hours later in the troubled district of Balochistan, has disputed the claim that six levies personnel had died protecting him, Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported on Thursday.

Colorado, who spoke to La Vanguardia in the safety of New Delhi, recalled the harrowing events in Balochistan, where he was not allowed to cycle. He told the paper that he was waiting at a check post just 300 meters behind a bus carrying pilgrims, which was attacked with a suicide bomb. His camera was recording at the time and somehow he managed to capture the blast on video. The explosion had killed at least 30 pilgrims and left over 50 injured.

The cyclist said that ever since he crossed the Iran-Pakistan border, he was escorted by various members of the security forces who always transported him in their vehicles. However, he disputed the number of security personnel that he was being escorted by at the time of the attack. “Just after crossing into Pakistan from Iran, I was awarded two escorts, the Balochistan levies.”

Following the bus bomb attack on January 21, he was held in a police station overnight for safety and allowed to travel the following morning. Even after the explosion, Colorado was loaded into a van with only one gunman and a driver, with no following vehicle.

A little after they passed the destroyed bus on the Mastung highway, Colorado’s vehicle came under a bomb and gun attack in which he was injured just above his left temple. Colorado toldLa Vanguardia that the attack happened barely three minutes after they crossed the bus (visible in his video). He adds that contrary to the official version in which the deaths of six and injuries to three levies personnel is claimed, none of the two men accompanying him were injured, nor did he see anyone else die.

In the video, which he has uploaded on to the internet, Colorado can be seen lying on his stomach on the bed of the pickup truck with his cycle, holding the camera with one arm and his injured head with the other. In the video, an armed levies’ guard can be seen standing over Colorado while a second man, possibly the driver, walks around to the back of the vehicle and inquires whether the Spaniard is ok.

To this Colorado tells the driver in Spanish and broken English to keep going.

Later at the hospital in Quetta, one of the guards accompanying Colorado tells an attendant in Urdu that they had just escaped a blast and that four to five levies personnel had been killed, while at least three others were injured.

La Vanguardia further reports that according to Colorado, he was flown to Lahore where he stayed in his room for 36-hours with two ‘agents’ outside his door.

When he contacted his family in Madrid he read the official statement that he was given. But in New Delhi, he uploaded the video and said that he could no longer keep quiet about what had really happened.

After Pakistan’s Hazara community lost around three dozens precious lives last week, protests from Shia community erupted throughout Pakistan. The protesters were demanding targeted operation by the state against the perpetrators of massacre. Familiar images were repeated on 24/7 news media showing victims’ families in the sit-in with bodies of their loved ones in front of them. One has had it a year ago when around 90 dead bodies of Hazara Shias protested in the same manner, with similar demands. A year on and their demands are far from being heard, promises of the state further from being realized, culprits even further from facing justice and persecution of the victim community persisting with even more vigor.
A picture of Hazara siblings with sister clinging lovingly to her brother went viral. The sister had died at the spot while the brother was fighting his injuries. Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party released a photo with his sister in the same pose and with a little placard in hands expressing solidarity and inviting public support to the victims. One came across similar sentiment of solidarity and empathy going through umpteen talk shows on current affairs media and in the garrulous circles of the capital. The spirit however, suddenly evaporated when one would beseech them to participate in the sit-ins. Fear, distrust on the state to protect or ideological complicity? One wouldn’t know. But the otherwise vocal citizenry for secular and progressive Pakistan went unbearably silent.
Looking at the state incompetence coupled with criminal complicity, one can’t blame this silent faction of empathetic populace, which manages to still exist in whatever numbers after all these decades of sheer rupture of inflated illusion of state writ. Why are the Hazara victims of this continued violence? Why are the perpetrators still at large?.... Continue Reading ....

THE emergency measures taken after the nationwide protest at the latest round of killing of pilgrims in Mastung district offer little assurance that a way to end the ordeal of the Hazara community has been found.

While no breakthrough in efforts to nab the culprits has been reported public attention has been focused on the air-lifting of hundreds of pilgrims from Dalbandin to Quetta. Welcome though this operation has been it has also thrown up a few disquieting issues.

First, the volume of the annual pilgrim traffic to and from Iran has proved to be quite large, and the need to manage it has obviously been ignored year after year. Secondly, the administration has conceded its inability to guarantee security of road travel. And, thirdly, there is a danger that a large piece of territory may pass into the hands of militants determined to harass the governments of Pakistan and Iran both. Neither air flights nor a ferry service along the Makran coast will alter the situation.

This means that the anti-Hazara militias will have greater freedom and capacity to continue their murderous attacks on the beleaguered community. What does this portend for the Hazaras (the Shia majority among them, as the small number of Sunni Hazaras are not targeted) and Balochistan?

Since no firm attempt has been made to subdue them, the gangs engaged in massacring the Hazaras consider themselves free to persist in their criminal acts and the threat to the Hazaras remains unabated. The seriousness of this threat can be gauged only if one takes stock of Hazara losses since 2003, when their mass killing began. Forty-seven people were killed in July 2003 in an attack on an imambargah; 36 perished in March 2004 when the Ashura procession was attacked; 63 were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Youm-i-Quds procession in 2010; 26 pilgrims were killed in Mastung in September 2011 and more than 100 were killed in the Alamdar Road massacre last year...Continue Reading...

Is the chief minister not aware that the Hazaras cannot move freely between Hazara Town and Mariabad, Quetta without risking executions? That a people are being ghettoised in the 21st century on his watch seems completely lost on Dr Baloch

The beleaguered ShiaHazara community of Quetta has dug yet another mass grave for its loved ones slaughtered in the Mastung bombing by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) as they were returning from a pilgrimage in Iraq and Iran. The Hazaras, one of the most peaceful people in Pakistan, had just commemorated the anniversary of the massacre perpetrated on them by the LeJvia twin suicide bombings last January in Quetta. A hundred HazaraShias died in that attack. Before thatthe LeJ had executed 26 HazaraShias in an ambush in Mastung in September 2011 and another 15 in Quetta in June 2012 as they were returning from a pilgrimage. It seems nothing has changed for the hapless Hazaras. The then provincial and federal governments led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had promised action against the LeJ just as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) has done now. One will have to see it to believe it. Till then, the HazaraShias are on their own.

The cavalier attitude of the Balochistan chief ministers has perhaps also remained the same. When asked about the plight of the HazaraShias, the former chief ministerAslamRaisani offered to send them a truckload of tissue papers. The current chief minister, DrMalikBaloch, was not as callous as MrRaisani and did show up at the peaceful protest organised by the HazaraShias. However, his proposed — and later enforced — solution to the ongoing tragedy was just as inconsiderate. DrBaloch said that the pilgrim buses should stop using the land route through Mastung and go to Karachi instead. He suggested a ferry service between Pakistan and Iran with the voyage starting preferably from Karachi. The television anchor asking him the question might not have known but it is just not possible that DrBaloch is not aware that the shortest route from Quetta to Karachi also goes through Mastung. Whatever the easiest way to Karachi may be, DrBaloch, a supposedly enlightened and progressive leader, was clearly taking a detour around responsibility. What does he have to say about the ShiaHazara vendors getting killed in Quetta? Is the chief minister not aware that the Hazaras cannot move freely betweenHazara Town and Mariabad, Quetta without risking executions? That a people are being ghettoised in the 21st century on his watch seems completely lost on DrBaloch.....Continue Reading...

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

KARACHI: It is at times of severe distress that a person’s true substance really comes to the fore. It is at these times too that events happen that inspire us to believe there is still hope for this world. One such tale is that of one of the survivors of the Mastung bus bombing, Muhammad Ibtihaj, who has taken up the task of lifting the spirits of the other injured.

The 11-year-old chubby faced with a cute smile can hardly be found at his bed in the children’s ward at the Aga Khan Hospital where he is being treated for scars on his right side of his face – courtesy of the explosion. Rather, the boy takes slow steps, climbs up the stairs and walks up to the ward where seven adult pilgrims are being treated for their burns and other crippling injuries. Unaware of the loved ones he has lost in the incident, Ibtihaj has become a source of welcome relief for the other injured.

“I want to help them because they are in trouble,” smiles the boy shyly, as he shows the thumbs up sign to one patient and then hugs him tight.

“He is more than a brother. His strength keeps us alive,” whispers Hussain Saadat, one of those injured in the explosion, as his eyes fill with tears.

Clad in a blue patient’s shirt, white trousers, and a muffler he was wearing when the attack occurred, Ibtihaj, whose name means happiness in Arabic, has certainly become a source of joy for those battling for their lives. He sits with them, laughs and jokes and even complains to his father when they don’t eat.

Zakir Hussain, who has lost both his legs, shakes his hands and smiles, “We became friends on the bus and now we are here together.”

The boy does not show signs of being traumatised by the tragic incident, and only says this about it: “They should be punished – those who did bad things to us.”

A student of fifth grade at the APSC Seven Streams School in Quetta, the boy and his sister came into the limelight after their picture in school uniforms, winking and rolling out their tongues, was shared and circulated by many on the social media, including Pakistan Peoples Party’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Looking at the picture now in his elder brother’s phone, Ibtihaj, who is a Barcelona football fan, and has four Karate belts, recalls, “I like this picture. It was taken five months ago.”

Also present at the hospital is Ibtihaj’s father, Jawad Hazara, who had stayed behind while his family had gone for the pilgrimage. A businessman by profession, Hazara is visibly traumatised by the tragedy he has faced. “Imagine a man’s condition when he can’t recognise his own family. I could not discern the burnt bodies of my loved ones.”

Ibtihaj’s elder brother, Mairaj, was one of the other lucky survivors of the incident. They had both been sitting at the back of the bus when the explosion occurred. This is probably what saved their life.

“He is very brave. I’m more scared than him. He wants to join the air force when he grows up, but now impressed by his behaviour, I want him to work for humanity.”

Monday, January 27, 2014

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Assalam-0-alaikum and good morning MUSALMAN. It’s me. Do you recognize me? My name is Kafar. I hope by now you do know who I am. It’s been a while that i wanted to write to you and share with you what I am feeling right now, and probably give you some advise as well, just in case you’ve become lesser and lesser conscious about me due to army’s recent (Dramatic) tanning of your’s and by dramatic I mean to say FAKE but nevertheless it looked real and therefore i felt compelled to write to you.

Let me give you a recall. You’ve already killed 2000+ members of my family ranging from a 3 year old kid to 60-70 year olds, but I haven’t acted seriously yet and therefore i think you owe me your life for that. I have been patient, I’ve been tolerant. I’ve gulped all my anger. You know why? Because I don’t think you deserve my wrath. You are just too pathetic. You come and kill in the name of Islam. What Islam is this? Is this Islam, which you so heroically represent even a religion? Does Islam tell or show you how to blow yourself up and kill a dozen more along with you as well? Does Islam command you to chop off the heads of un-armed civilians? Does Islam teach you to kill women? Does Islam teach you how to torture a captive? Does Islam teach you how to incite violence? Does Islam teach you how to demolish a Mosque with bombs and rockets? NO you ignorant fool. Islam teaches brotherhood. Islam shows how to help someone who’s in need. Islam shows you how to respect each other. Islam teaches you Manliness. Islam teaches you bravery. Islam teaches you how to treat a woman. Islam teaches you to take care of an orphan if you can, not try to turn an innocent into an orphan by killing his/her parents.... Continue Reading ....

It was Jan 13, 2013, when 21-year-old Eltaf Hussain was on his way to the dharna outside Bilawal House, Karachi to protest against Hazara killings in Quetta. “How can the rest of the world go on with their daily business, when such a terrible incident has happened to us?” he thought? “Why doesn’t the world stop after so many people have been killed?”

Hussain belongs to the Hazara community of Quetta, a city where he has spent most of his young life. “After completing my intermediate at the Tameer-i-Nau Public College in Quetta, I took a year off as things became dramatically worse for Hazaras. One day my father said to me: ‘you can’t live your life like this’. I then decided to move to Karachi with the sole purpose of continuing my education as it was impossible to do that in Quetta.”

While the Alamdar Road massacre projected the plight of the Hazara onto the national consciousness, it was by no means the beginning of the pogroms against this community.

“I remember that a long time back I was with my father at Sariab Road and he wanted me to wear dark glasses to cover my eyes. I was annoyed even though I knew that anybody can tell from our eyes that we are Hazara.

Later I realised why my father was saying that. He always wore glasses himself. Not long ago, I had to go to the Board Office in Quetta and I covered my face. I wasn’t happy doing this but I knew that this way I would be safer. Things have changed for us over time.”

The year 2008 was a turning point for Pakistan’s Hazaras, when individuals from the community began to be targeted regularly. “Government officials from our community, professionals and even police officers were killed,” recalls Hussain. “There was an incident in Jinnah Town, and then two people were killed on Samundari Road. Wherever they would see a Hazara person, they would kill him,” said Hussain.

While the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed credit for the mass casualty attacks, Hussain suspects there are also those who are seeking to exploit the situation.... Continue Reading.....

Madeeha Syed speaks to Human Rights Watch's Ali Dayan Hasan about the state and predicament of the Hazara in Quetta

A year after the deadly attacks on the Hazara community, what is the situation now?

While Shias across Pakistan have faced increasingly vicious attacks, a disproportionate number of attacks - the latest being the Jan 21st attack on a pilgrim’s bus in Mastung - have targeted the small Hazara community. Of Shias killed across Pakistan in 2012, around a quarter of the victims were Quetta Hazaras. In 2013, a little under half of those killed were from that community. It is true that major attacks on the scale of January and February 2013 have not taken place since last year. But major attacks are only one aspect of the crisis faced by the community. Survivors and family members of victims describe the effects of a campaign of killings that has targeted all segments of the Hazara community. Hazaras live a ghetto existence, fearful of going about the normal business of life. Hazara religious pilgrims, students, shopkeepers, vegetable sellers, doctors and other professionals have been targeted leading to not just widespread fear but increasingly restricted movement leading to a ghettoisation of community members, increasing economic hardship and curtailed access to education.

How many are opting to flee their homes? And where are they going?

Large numbers are fleeing Pakistan in panic and seeking asylum abroad, even risking their lives in the process. Unable to cope with death stalking them at every turn, many hundreds have fled Quetta for Karachi or other parts of Pakistan. Yet further hundreds have fled Pakistan altogether. Those fleeing usually seek to go to Australia risking a dangerous sea journey that has repeatedly proved fatal. In April 2013, some 60 Hazaras died when their boat sunk in Indonesian waters enroute Australia. These journeys are not only dangerous and expensive, they are often deadly. Almost 1,000 people have died on the crossing from Indonesia to Australia over the last decade — scores of them Hazaras from Pakistan... Continue Reading....

APP and REUTERSPakistani Shia Muslim mourners look on during a funeral for victims of a bombing at a graveyard in Quetta on January 24, 2014. – AFP Photo

Updated 2014-01-25 02:00:07

QUETTA: Pakistan has suspended buses carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims from travelling through its volatile Balochistan province to neighbouring Iran due to security concerns after a suicide attack killed 30 pilgrims this week, officials said on Friday.

A 700 km highway connecting the Pakistani city of Quetta and Iran, home to many Shia pilgrimage sites, has seen dozens of suicide and roadside bomb attacks claimed by radical Islamist groups.

“We have temporarily suspended the movement of buses on the highway until the security situation improves,” a senior official of the provincial government told Reuters.

Sectarian attacks are on the rise in Pakistan, where minority Shias make up about 20 per cent of the 180 million people.

Human Rights Watch says more than 400 Shia Muslims were killed in 2013, including members of the ethnic Hazara community.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber drove his car into a bus killing 30 pilgrims and prompting hundreds of Shia Hazaras to take to the streets to protest against the violence.

“No place is safe for us. There is no alternate road. We have to travel through this ‘bloody highway’ each time we go on a pilgrimage,” said Mohammad Ismail Changazi, one protester.

Militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

PAF flies pilgrims from Dalbandin to Quetta

Meanwhile, Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft flew 150 Shia pilgrims, who returned from Iran, to Quetta from Dalbandin Airport on Friday.

“The 300 pilgrims including women and children, who returned from Iran were taken to Dalbandin Airport from zero-point on Pak-Iran border in Taftan town and 150 out of the 300 pilgrims flew to Quetta by a C-130 aircraft,” he said.

The remaining 150 pilgrims were at Dalbandin awaiting the C-130 to take them to Quetta.

Tehsildar Nokundi Zafar Bangulzai said that another two coaches carrying pilgrims, who returned from Iran were stopped at Nokundi area of Chagai for their security and later, they were allowed to head towards Dalbandin Airport.

“FC personnel escorted the pilgrims’ coaches,” he said.

The district administration officials said that tight security arrangements were made on the routes leading towards Dalbandin Airport.

“The law enforcement personnel including the Frontier Corps and Levies Force were deployed to escort the pilgrims’ coaches,” they said.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Basit Ali, our main Observer in the city of Quetta in western Pakistan, was killed on Tuesday when a bomb struck a bus of Shiite pilgrims returning from Karbala, Iraq.

Ali, who regularly sent us images from the region, witnessed the terrible reality of a city torn apart by terrorism by Baloch nationalists as well as Sunni extremists who attack the mainly Shiite Hazara people.

Basit Ali ran a cosmetics store in a Shiite neighbourhood in Quetta. However, he was, above all, passionate about photography. He captured the daily hardships of the Hazaras in Quetta and posted the photos on a Facebook page. He also took photos of the aftermath of terrorist attacks the city has suffered during the past decade, and closely followed the news in his region, an extremely dangerous place that few journalists dare to go today. His friends say he was very active in the Hazara community, and offered material and psychological help to the victims of terrorists attacks and their families.

The Observers team had been working with Basit since 2012. He regularly sent us photos and never failed to alert us to news from Quetta. He had the courage to tell us what he saw without the cover of anonymity. We worked together on two articles, one on daily life in Quetta, another on the persecution of Hazaras, which we followed up by interviewing Basit via Skype for the Observers TV show (watch it here). He had survived several bombings, and had lost several friends in these attacks. This summer, he noted that in Quetta, “the Hazara cemetery keeps growing; there have been so many deaths from suicide attacks and explosions.”.... Continue Reading....